Singapore stocks fall at Wednesday's open; STI down 0.6%

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Wednesday, tracking overnight declines on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.6 per cent or 19.63 points to 3,123.00 as at 9am. Losers outnumbered gainers 91 to 31, with 33.4 million securities worth S$30.1 million changing hands.

Sembcorp Marine was among the counters that saw active trading by volume - three million shares worth S$0.6 million were traded as at 9am. The counter declined 1.6 per cent or 0.3 Singapore cent to 18.9 cents.

Thomson Medical also saw brisk trading, with 1.9 million shares worth S$0.2 million changing hands. Its shares slipped 1.1 per cent or 0.1 Singapore cent to nine cents.

Among index stocks, Ascendas Reit was also actively traded, with one million units worth S$3 million traded as at 9am. The counter rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 to S$2.95.

The trio of local banks were lower in early trade. DBS fell the most, down 1 per cent or S$0.31 to S$29.45, UOB dropped 1 per cent or S$0.25 to S$25.50, while OCBC slipped 0.9 per cent or S$0.11 to S$12.06 as at 9am.

Over on Wall Street, stock indices closed lower on Tuesday after a tech rally waned in late session, even as retailers such as Walmart reported strong results.

Following a period of weakness, the tech-rich Nasdaq did not meet expectations of a bounce and instead pushed lower to close 0.6 per cent at 13,303.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8 per cent to 34,060.66, while the broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.9 per cent to 4,127.83.

European shares rose on Tuesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closing just shy of its record high last week, edging up 0.2 per cent, led by the travel and leisure index.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened lower on Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.4 per cent or 393.49 points to 28,013.35 in early trade, while the broader Topix index declined 1 per cent or 18.73 points to 1,889.01.